ORIGIN

Think Different: 1969 Intermeccanica Italia

This 1969 Intermeccanica Italia is quite the worldly hybrid; designed in Italy, powered by American muscle and built by an Italian company founded by a Hungarian-born Canadian. Italian cues tend to dominate, especially when painted red, and the seller claims that this one has 23k miles from new. Find it here on eBay in Gaylordsville, Connecticut.

Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica is a car builder founded in Turin, Italy, by Frank Reisner in the late ’50s. Initially building small formula cars, Reisner turned quickly to sports cars, using running gear from many larger companies. Intermeccanica also contracted for design projects and small production runs, including a handsome prototype of a Mustang station wagon. Currently, the company is known for building replicas of various vintage Porsches, and is now based in California.

The development of the Italia was a drawn out affair, involving the shuttering of a US-based importer just as production was ramping up. The car was initially known as the Torino, after the city where it was manufactured. Of course, Ford already had rights to the name. Eventually, fewer than 500 of these cars were built between 1967 and 1972.

It takes the onlooker a few takes to realize that this is indeed not a Ferrari or Lamborghini. The lines are familiar, yet slightly different than the more famous cars. The wheels are one giveaway, appearing to be a cheap aftermarket wheel more suited for a Firebird than a vintage Italian exotic. Open the door, and the exotic impression continues. The only thing that catches the eye is the lack of a exposed shift gate for the four-speed transmission.

This is an unusual car that will require an unusual buyer, but they are out there. Check the bidding already. What would a buyer likely trade-in to get this car? It has us wondering… muscle car? DeTomaso? Ferrari 328?

I think it’s sitting too low, it needs to lifted a few inches. I love the wheels and tires though, very classy! It’s nice to see a well kept interior, too, especially the footwells. Seems reasonably priced, as well. I think I’ll go back and read all the previous comments now, I hope I didn’t repeat anyone else’s thoughts on this vehicle.

The wheels are awful, the ride height’s wrong, the upholstery’s wrinkled, there are stray wires under the dash, the hydraulic hood prop has lost pressure, and there’s some dirt in the footwells? Horrors! All fatal problems that no one could possibly sort. Run away!

It looks like a C3 Corvette/Jensen Healey/Daytona Spider/240Z front end? This design predates all of those.

This is a handbuilt car, with all the positives (style) and negatives (build quality) that brings with it, but with an engine that defines “bulletproof”. There were probably fewer than 500 ever built. And yet some people are expressing utter disbelief that a good, sorted example could sell for $75k?

Frankly, I think this one has too many needs to justify top dollar. But could we at least maintain a little perspective here?

Does it all boil down to this; Ford powered automobiles do bring premiums. After all, who tore Ferrari apart in their factory assualt in racing after bad blood between erupted between Enzo and Henry. Date it back to Henry and the earliest of races which he won. Cobra coupe, extravagent money GT-40, extravagent money Cobra csx 3000 B/B cars, extravagent money Cobra csx 2000 S/B cars, extravagent money,

Next in the list, Hand built/panel beat cars from coach builders, as for any automobile, RR, Bugatti, Ferrari, Mercedes, Ford and on and on. These cars command the most from the big dollar collectors, one might say pissing rights apply.

This is perhaps why the Italia is growing in desirability. Surpassing other Ford powered cars like the DeTomosa cars, Tigers, Lotus, Griffiths and many other rare and fast Ford powered automobiles. Again, just as in any other manufactures stable of the rarest of the rare.

For fun, what manufacturer or builder brought forth the first true exotic automobile in the world? Perhaps time will tell as all is not over untill the “fat lady sings”. The Europeans did not beat the Americans on this one guys !!! John

lived on the North Shore of L.I. ’60s and 70s and these were rather common along with TVRs,Griffiths ect. Never knew how interbred they all were. Guy that kept my Porsche running had a new one of these. Scary fast,gorgeous and a sound to die for. Plus it was unbreakable. Keep your Cobras LOL

I owned one back in the 1980’s..but the coupe…which was actually very good looking..Called the Ford intermeccanica Italia Torino…yes a person on bring a trailer who owned one…First hand…fast car, great handling…rusted if you left it out in the rain…impossible to sell in the mid 80’s…no one knew what it was and people kept thinking it was related to the ford mustang? go figure. I wish I had it…he needs to lose the General Lee rims…..

I get the sen e that someone about 3′ tall took all the pictures! WTF?

All the gripes I’ve read seem as trivial as they are valid. This would be a great OCD beers in the garage winter tinkering project.

Someone must have really been pissed at themself after cleaning the carpet w/ a product that had a bleaching agent!? Nasty..If I were selling the car I would have redyed the carpet and detailed leather… a relative no-brainer.

The wheels and ride hieght? Ultimatly not an issue, but you just have to wonder why someone that presently owns the car would find this acceptable? Cases like this, I always wish there was a picture of present owner!

Finally, for a low production/eccentic car like this I would put in the budget enough to go and buy as many progressively unobtainum spares as I could. If a windshield is truly only $1,500 I would buy two and every other piece of glazing, brightwork, odd bits and rubber (put in the argon purge mylar bag and throw in the basement).

Someone mentions the top of windshield really intrudes for a taller person- looking at the side elevation pic, no kidding that might be the fatal flaw for a taller prospective buyer.

Love the top fender crease that has a reveal above the headlight. Details like that make the car.

To my eye, a bit of a smashup of a 330GTC and a Jensen Healey, I like it all the same.

On one hand I think these are beautiful, but on the other I can’t help thinking it looks like the Daytona Spyder replicas based on Corvette platforms. I agree with the need for wheel replacement and correcting the stance. Also, the interior needs work – carpet is terrible and the headrests need some help to say the least. That said, the price seems ambitious.

Love the styling of this car. Looks remarkably better with correct wheels and stance.

Most of the Intermeccanicas were said to have poor to questionable build quality. Even so, my “unicorn” (the unattainable either due to availablity or my ability to afford it) is the Apollo. Everytime I see an Intermeccanica show up on this site it gives me the ‘I wannas.’

I remember these cars well. It is always informative to read the comments here before posting.

For instance, I was going to say something about these having Buick 215’s until I was reminded above that the Apollo was what I was thinking of.

Then I thought about how pretty I always thought these cars looked, but now, it seems a bit dated – I’m surprised that in the comparisons to other cars, no one thought to mention the original 240Z, at least around the headlights (too bad that they never made a 240Z roadster).

Sure, it’s a very nice car that needs much to be perfect, and like most everything that I like it is exorbitantly overpriced. So, just as I always have in the past when I’ve come across one of these, I’ll pass!

Lots of attention to the hood prop, perhaps the seller should have used something else !!!

In the mid 60’s before hydraulic supports were common place and used for hoods and trunks, Reisner used/developed a cylinder and placed a spring inside of the cylinders to keep the hood and trunk opened/proped up. Oh well !!

Ferrari 308-328’s are nice cars, but, they have ran there way through the crystal ball and have settled in value and collectability.

Ahhh, that crystal ball, would of, could of, should of syndrome, that can be said for many types of automobiles. John

Good point “db2.” But it says the maker was a Canadian; hence a used hockey stick for a hood support! As an aside, there actually is a book by David More called “101 Ways to Recycle a Hockey Stick” I’m not sure that “hood support on exotic Italian sports cars in included). All levity aside, $43,000 and climbing ! For that kind of cash I think I’d be looking around for a real Italian exotic; say a 308 or a 328 Ferrari. “Ezekial:” Yes, the city has been around a lot longer than the Ford, but in the world of copyright and brand name protection, that doesn’t matter. It seems that any time the Olympic games come a city, any number of local gyms and pizza joints are forced to change their names that include “olympic” or “olympia” or “olympiad,” regardless of how long they’ve been in business.

rick bradner, Yes, mine is an Italia. There has always been debate on the number of cars Reisner built, many sites give different numbers. Reisner also raced cars and built them. Bottom line, there are rare and coming on strong on the market place as keepers that are increasing in demand and value.

A comparable car to this one being discussed, sold a few months ago for 68K. To me, both needed a, “lets start over again restoration”.

Peter Whelan, Yes, that is one of the companies that sell well crafted original std parts for the Italia, Torino etc. You made me smile Peter, I did buy numerous parts for my Italia from my local Napa store. John

I owned 3, a 289 and two 351s. The first prototype was a coupe with Plymouth power which I saw at the New York Auto Show in 1966. Called the Griffith GT. Bob Cumberford did the design. The original wheels on the Italia/Torino were Magnum 500. These cars got a lot of bad press but I liked mine. There are many things on this car to pick apart. A good one is probably worth 50-75k.

I followed a few links from this story (and previous Italia features on BaT, and indeed, there is a source, Italia Reproductions, who’s website seems to offer a number of items.

Is that what your referring to?

They do offer windshields. Only 1500 bucks.

It’s an interesting site, with some really good pics of what the cars can and should look like if restored with some care and sensitivity. They are certainly very impressive when done right. I always like them.

Amazingly enough, they even offer parts for the Apollo, another Intermeccanica product, designed by Milt Brown and built in the mid ’60’s with Buick power.

I think they only built about 9 of those. And you can still get parts for them! Far out!

It’s nice to know that parts are still available. It’s not exactly like going down the street to your local NAPA, but at least there’s a source, somewhere.

any idea how many of these were built as Griffiths before Frank ran out of money? 40? Is yours a Griffith or Italia?

As far as some comments about the build quality, I had the dubious fortune of working as a mechanic at an independant sports car shop for awhile in the ’70’s and saw one of these on a fairly regular basis and never found them to be difficult to work on. Now the Jensen-Healeys were a different story…

I must admit to having a serious weakness for these cars after first seeing while working a car show in Montreal in ’67. Much prefer the coupe version. Car was originally designed to be a replacement for the TVR based Griffith. The wheels were originally Magnum 500.

here’s a link to a photo of the original cars with the proper wheels and stance!

For whatever reason, this Italia sits about 5 inches taller than it should. The wheels are by no means original type wheels that came on the cars when new.

This particuler Italia has many non original touches since new, both in the interior and engine bay, let alone the jacked up suspension/height. To my best knowledge, body style and car first shown in 1965, the other cars mentioned above in comparison, did not excist yet, did they? Holman and Moody, Mark Donahue, Griffith and others all had their hands in parts of the Italia’s history.

Leans more so to a Ferrari nart in styling and size. Scaglione seems to have played a part in the design, which I believe, even though there is some arguement to this. Some say that a designer from Reisners company did most of the styling cue’s. He later went to work for GM>> vooala, the new vette styling !!

Quite rare these days, maybe 200 or so in the US. Real slick ans sexy looking cars in person

Quite ironic, as many automobiles from around the world have fallen hard in value over the past 2 years, Italia’s set two new records for sales price in this same time frame, 9oK and 143K.

Alex Trebec has/had one in the 90’s, I know because we teamed up to make some rubber parts for the cars. I hand beat panels/other items and sold them to Italia owners for a few years. Proudly have owned mine since 1989. With respect, John

If my fading memory serves, the design (by Bob Cumberford, IIRC,) started out as the replacement for the original Griffith, built by Reisner’s Intermecanicca operation in Italy for Jack Griffith in NY.

While planned as a serious production model powered by a small block Ford, money soon ran out and the design was bought by former C&D writer, Steve Wilder.

He renamed the car Omega, and swapped out the 289 Ford for a 273 Plymouth. That venture soon went belly up and after a year or two, the car reappeared as the Italia, again with Ford power. Another ownership group took over and the car became the Torino and on and on.

This went on for a number of years. Hell, they may still be making them somewhere under another name, for all I know.

Total production of this model, under all it’s various nameplates, was around 500 vehicles.

I could be off on a few details, but this is essentially how it went. While a stunning design, IMO, it was always an orphan, so to speak, with typical cottage industry “bitsa” construction methods, and not enough development. I think the front suspension components are from a Fiat truck.

The fact that it has a stock American driveline will bring some comfort to a new owner, but it’s the rest of it that always made me nervous, as do all those limited production Isos, Gordon Keebles, Bizzarinis and even De Tomasos.

God help you if anything else goes wrong, even simple things. What happens if somebody dings a bumper, or you crack the windshield?

Good luck with all that.

It is pretty, though. Fiddle with the ride height, and throw on some chrome Borranis and you’re a rock star.

There was an Intermeccanica dealership in Miami and I once drove one of these… that windshield header is a bit close for comfort if you’re tall. They look best in silver or pale blue. Nice to see the interior is right. Neat cars (think proto-Tubbs/Crockett Daytona Spyder) but this one could stand to be massaged a bit. The stance and wheels are just… wrong. Spring for Borrani’s (standard IIRC) to get the full Italian effect; Cromodora 5-spokes or Magnum 500’s would look right too.

A few years ago Grand Touring in Laurel, MD, did “some tuning up” of an Italia… it took the better part of two years and essentially involved completely rebuilding the car and designing and building new front and rear suspension, moving the engine and transmission, etc etc etc. At the end of that process, the owner had the best Italia in the world- solid, reliable, and with excellent handling. And so what? A contemporary Corvette would eat it alive, cost a third as much, and look better. It would also appreciate in value. It would have been cheaper to push the original car off a cliff. I think the take-home message is that these aren’t very well-made or good-handling cars, so don’t expect much from them. But they do look good, and you can always sell the wheels to a “Dukes” fan….

Those cheap Vector wheels (YeeeHaaaw!! just like on the General Lee) along with the wrong size tires and increased ride height spoil the car. At $40k & climbing with the reserve unmet, you’d think the guy would at least have the interior repaired.

Those rims remind me of the american racing wheels that the General Lee had with a few spokes added. I’d drop it an inch or two drop but I think it’ll still look a tad bizarre- the front doesn’t seem to match the back.

Oh it’s beautiful allright, but the ride height spoils much of the lines and the interior does look a bit funky. Those seats look like somebody slept in them since 1969. Oh well, I’m just jealous I suppose.